Humans have the ability to interpret the same reality in many ways, depending on our knowledge and experience. You can choose to be positive, negative, hopeful, skeptical, in short … I, on the subject of scholarship programs – and especially the English scholarships – I see the glass half full.
The efforts to promote English learning in the 1990s, but it was the contact centers & bpo’s sector that alerted, in that same decade, about the need to have a strategy for employment that had as a basis the professional knowledge of English, since that condition would make us competitive to attract foreign investment, mainly.
In 2025, there is a strategy, a platform like “Guatemala does not stop”, resources and many implemers. This year, the executive agency, through the Ministry of Education, together with the legislative agency, specifically the Finance Commission, has in its hands a budget that allows the institutionalization of two scholarship funds for English.
The three programs
The first aims to promote English learning as a foreign language in students and teachers of the public system. Although it has been operating under the tutelage of the Vice Ministry of Bilingual and Intercultural Education and implemented by the General Directorate of Intercultural Bilingual Education (DIGEBI) for several years, this year it has a mandate of institutionalization that covers the basic and diversified levels. It is expected to train more than 800 teachers, including those of the primary level, with an investment of around US $ 4 million annually.
This fund has, in the past, more than 6,000 annual scholarships to students of the public system and more than 400 teachers each year. Its objective is that the beneficiaries can complement their knowledge base of the English language.
The second fund, based on the experience of the Fund in the Ministry of Economy, was constituted as the English scholarship fund for work in the Ministry of Education, under the tutelage of the Vice Ministry of Extracurricular Education and with the implementation of the General Directorate of Extracular Education (DIGEEX), with the aim of bringing the beneficiaries of 18 years – to improve their basic English and use it to achieve a job or professionalize. It is expected to invest near US $ 6.5 million annually and grant more than 20,000 scholarships each year, with the goal of incorporating more than 4,000 people into new jobs in key sectors for national development.
Finally, the Government has ordered, through the Budget Law, the creation and implementation of a third fund, which is not oriented to the learning of English, but aims to benefit students who wish to continue with technical and university studies, either in the country or abroad. The “Scholarships for our future” fund has more than US $ 31 million for that purpose and is implemented by the Ministry of Planning and Programming of the Presidency (Segeplán).
Do not miss the opportunity
Is little to be done then? Success will depend on at least three major elements: the speed in implementation, the quality of the training and the existence of a demand that takes advantage of the opportunity.
I have no doubt, because of my experience in the execution of programs, that speed is not a characteristic of the public sector. However, the 2025 National Budget Law contemplates mechanisms that could expedite financial execution; These are legal procedures that have been little used in the past. Are they infallible mechanisms? Corruption proof, deviations, bureaucracy or inefficiency? No, but at least offer possible and more agile alternatives. Time and execution capacity will be tested in the coming months, so it is still soon to venture an opinion.
The quality of the training provision depends on several elements. One key is the teacher, teacher, facilitator or mentor. This figure is the one who motivates, maintains interest and discipline to foster learning, provides knowledge, causes practice and promotes evaluation. I know that there are impressive teachers in terms of skills and professional qualification … but there are also not so good.
At this point, the implementers – public and private – must make an additional effort in the search and retention of qualified personnel, as well as pay decent salaries to keep this program engine. Undoubtedly, there are other important elements, although not priority, such as computer platforms, methodologies, conversation clubs, etc., which, although necessary, have already been tested, although not certified. We must still advance in the scope of certification to ensure that we will obtain people with the competences required for work and that these competences can develop anywhere in the world.
It is essential to evaluate, during and at the end of the execution, the results obtained with the participation of different suppliers. What I do not doubt is that competition is a good advisor to get the best possible suppliers in this implementation.
And finally, the fellows. Yes, we have to find young people who, knowing the opportunities, are registered in educational programs oriented to short -term employment and that they strive to learn. This is where you, reader, can contribute a lot. Let us communicate that education is crucial and that English is a priority tool.
We have to share the information of the programs and, if it is in our hands, generate quality jobs that require this ability and related competencies. If we do not participate in its promotion and surveillance, the execution will not advance at the necessary speed. As important is the input as the result.
For me, scholarship programs are a complement to formal education, because they allow us to take advantage of focused and short -term opportunities. I think there are more Guatemalans that do want our young people to have the opportunities that take us to a better country. And for that … I choose to see the glass half full.
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